In 1896, when the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate public facilities did not violate the constitution, segregated schools became sanctioned by law. The "separate but equal" doctrine established by the Court's ruling meant that as long as they were equal, separate facilities for blacks and whites were legal. However, separate did not guarantee equal, and across the country public facilities for African Americans were inferior to those for whites.

In the 1940s, Clarendon County, South Carolina illustrated the disparities between black and white schools in the South. The county spent four times more money on white schools than on black schools. As a result of inadequate funding, the black schools in the county were dilapidated and overcrowded and had fewer resources than white schools. For example, white students had new text books while black students had used text books and black teachers were paid less than white teachers. The 2,000 white students in the county rode buses, while the 6,000 black students had no buses and frequently walked several miles to school.

Harry and Eliza Briggs were black parents in Clarendon County who wanted better conditions and equal education for their children. Encouraged by their minister, the Reverend Joseph Armstrong De Laine, the Briggs and fellow parent Levi Pearson petitioned county officials for buses. The petition was denied, but the parents persisted. By 1950, with the support of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and attorney Thurgood Marshall, the Briggs were among 20 plaintiffs in Briggs v. Elliott who sued the school board in an effort to equalize education.

On May 28, 1951, a federal three-judge panel ruled that black schools were unequal to white schools. The split court ordered the schools "equaled," but ultimately upheld the constitutionality of the "separate but equal" doctrine. Judge J. Waites Waring wrote a 28-page dissenting opinion, suggesting that segregated schools were inherently unequal.

The NAACP appealed to the Supreme Court. Briggs v. Elliott and four other cases combined to form the landmark 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, in which the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, overturning the "separate but equal" doctrine.

While the Briggs' actions may seem reasonable today, in a segregated society they were considered radical and provocative. Harry Briggs, a Navy veteran, lost his job as a gas station attendant. Eliza Briggs, a domestic worker in a local motel, was fired. De Laine's house was burned to the ground, and he and his two sisters were fired from their jobs. The Briggs and others involved in the case were harassed, denied credit, refused service in local stores, and eventually forced to move out of the state.